The TV critics’ summer press tour was only a few hours old when it suddenly hit me: I had traveled more than 300 miles only to wind up in … Berkeley?

Yes, there I was — roaming about the Craftsman-style bungalow of Berkeley residents Adam and Kristina Braverman. Lovely artwork lined the walls. A sense of eclectic quirkiness permeated the place. And check out that really cool sunken bathtub …

“What would you like to see?” Adam asked. “We don’t give tours of our home very often.”

“Adam,” of course, was really actor Peter Krause, and the “house” was just a set on the Universal Studios backlot for NBC’s sprawling multigenerational family drama, “Parenthood.” But if you suspended belief for a bit, you could imagine being in what one set decorator called a “mythological area of Berkeley.”

How Berkeley are they?

Some annoyed East Bay viewers regard the setting for “Parenthood” as just that — a myth. Since the series debuted earlier this year, nit-pickers have repeatedly knocked the show for getting Berkeley wrong.

“Why are the characters guzzling a generic brand of coffee rather than Peet’s?” they ask. “Why is Adam so often seen in corporate attire?” “Why are there no Priuses on the roads?”

The inaccuracies are so plentiful that a writer for UC Berkeley’s campus newspaper, the Daily Californian, suggested they might be the basis for a great drinking game. (And this reporter was semi-outraged to find copies of the L.A. Times in the Braverman home, rather than a Bay Area newspaper).

Lawrence Trilling, an executive producer for “Parenthood,” says he and the show’s writers take the gripes to heart. Really.

“We want to be accurate,” he says. “We want to reflect the local flavor and the diversity and open-mindedness of the community. Some people tell us that we’re doing a good job. Others don’t think so.”

Think global, shoot local

But it’s difficult to “get” Berkeley if you’re not in Berkeley. The “Parenthood” crew came to the East Bay to film the series pilot. Ensuing episodes, however, have been shot in Southern California, with neighborhoods in South Pasadena and Santa Monica standing in for Berkeley.

Shooting in the Bay Area is more expensive and more of a hassle. And, as Krause pointed out, the residents of Berkeley were “not receptive to having film trucks on their streets.”

Mark it down as a wasted opportunity. It’s not very often, after all, that the East Bay gets to shine in prime time. Yes, a “Parenthood” film crew will occasionally drop by this season, says Trilling, but only to shoot exteriors. In Season 1, for example, they shot footage around the Cal campus, then had actors digitally inserted into the scene.

On the other hand, maybe we should just be glad the show is returning this fall. Early ratings, after all, were mediocre, and for a while there, “Parenthood” looked like a goner.

Finding its path

But the series, which was inspired by the film of the same name, found its voice and tone as its initial 13-episode run unfolded. It was poignant without being sappy, and its characters became, as cast member Lauren Graham puts it, “more specific, layered and very real.

Ratings improved and now we have a chance to spend more time with the very large and very colorful Braverman clan. Season 2, says co-executive producer Jason Katims, will reveal to viewers more of Adam’s work life at a shoe factory, where his sister Sarah (Graham) will come on as an employee, and guest star Billy Baldwin will be introduced as their boss. Baldwin will also serve as a potential love interest for Sarah.

Other story lines will explore the shaky marriage of the eldest Bravermans (Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia), who will start the season in counseling, and the impact of Asperger’s syndrome on little Max Braverman’s (Max Burkholder) life.

No fewer than 14 cast members showed up at the press tour to represent “Parenthood,” and Katims acknowledged that it can be a major challenge to spread the wealth among so many talented actors.

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